Medical simulations are used to practice complex medical procedures, for the purposes of training medical staff, rehearsing a particular medical procedure in a simulation environment before performing it on a real patient, etc.
A specific type of complex medical procedure consists in inserting a medical instrument (e.g. a guide wire, a catheter, a cannula, etc.) inside a body channel (e.g. in a trachea while performing a tracheotomy, in a channel of the intestine such as the large intestine or the small intestine while performing an intervention on the digestion system, etc.). The intervention may involve insertion of a single medical instrument in the channel. Alternatively, a more complex intervention may involve insertion of a plurality of medical instruments in the channel (e.g. a guide wire inserted inside a catheter inserted inside a cannula inserted inside the channel).
Devices for simulating medical procedures involving mock medical instruments have been developed for practicing the medical procedures without interfering with a real patient. The device simulates a particular body region, for instance a body cavity comprising a channel, and allows insertion of the mock medical instrument(s) inside the simulated body region. Some of these devices further include a dedicated mechanism for tracking the progress of the mock medical instrument(s) inside the simulated body region.
However, such devices are usually bulky, and their size reduces their mobility. There is therefore a need for a new tracking system.